A Manx Sculptor and his Work.

MANY men are the favourites or victims of their early environment, and it was
among distinctly unfavourable surroundings that Joseph
William Swynnerton, the fourth son of Charles
Swinnerton and Mary Collister his wife, was born in Douglas on July 6th,
1848. Those youths who have now all the advantages of a properly equipped School
of Art, Art Guilds, and so on, can hardly understand the difficulties that beset
the aspirant to artistic distinction in Douglas before those things came into
being. Nevertheless, despite these disadvantages, Douglas has produced two notable
artists.

His schooling he had at the old Middle School, now the Grammar
School, Douglas, but at the age of fourteen he was withdrawn, as it
was intended that he should follow his father's business, monumental
sculpture. This, under the circumstances, was the best thing that
could have happened to him, as to this he owed at least whatever
training of eye and hand he received up to his twentieth year, and it
may be observed that his father before him had aspirations to
artistic distinction.

I do not intend to dwell upon this period of his life, "wasted
time" as he afterwards emphatically called it. Not altogether so, as
during it his natural artistic ability was strongly displayed, and
created considerable interest in the young man. It is needless to say
that John Nicholson and he found much in common to discuss, and
indeed, much to dispute, in religion and art, and lucky it was that
each found in the other someone to sympathise with his artistic
aspirations. But they had to depend largely upon books, as the Art
Journal, etc., for their knowledge of current art, and John Nicholson
was an early disciple of John Ruskin.

At the age of twenty he went for a few months to Edinburgh to study at the Academy in that city. There, for the first time,
he was initiated into the mysteries of modelling in clay, and there he gained a prize. Returning to the Isle of Mann, he
executed busts of his father, his brother Robert, and Mr. Brearey, which in spite of small defects due to want of proper
training, were highly promising works, and showed that he possessed a fine sense of form and proportion curious in one who
had hardly, if at all, drawn from the human figure. After carrying out some work for his father, studying anatomy meanwhile,
he was sent to Rome in his twenty-first year, that is to say he began the serious study of his art at an age when most sculptors
have almost completed their education. It would be vain to deny that in this he was heavily handicapped, and it may also
be said that in selecting Rome and not Paris a great mistake was made.

Upon arriving in Rome in 1869 he at once entered the Academy of St. Luke. This famous institution was founded in the sixteenth
century, its first director being Federigo Zuccaro. Many of its directors and pupils have been distinguished painters, sculptors,
architects and engravers. It contains a fine collection of casts from the antique, and some of modern works, as Canova's
and Thorwaldsen's, and an indifferently good collection of pictures by the old masters. There is a fine theatre for the
study of the living model, besides anatomical painting, and modelling class-rooms. There he passed two years of assiduous
study among a cosmopolitan crowd of students drawn from every nation in Europe, whose absurd pranks at times, caused laughter
in after years.;

In his first year he won Pope Pius IX's second (silver) medal, and
in his second year the first (gold) medal for Sculpture,  the
silver medal being probably the last that bore that Pope's effigy.
This was an astonishing success, it must be owned, for the "raw Manx
boy,"as he afterwards described himself, competing with so many men
from the academies of various cities of Europe, especially
considering the nature of his previous training. But so it was, and
this fact speaks more strongly than anything else in favour of his
natural talents. Had they been properly developed from his boyhood it
would have made a vast difference to him. But after this too short
study he had immediately to fend for himself.

I have little to say about his student days in Rome. It was still under Papal government for part of the time, insanitary,
and despotically ruled it may be, but yet with all those semi-medieval features and associations dear to artists which modern
improvements" have destroyed. It was still the Rome of Ducas" Count of Monte Cristo," the home of long-haired artists and
of Papal "sbirri," where foreign newspapers were vigorously censored, stabbings and religious functions the most prominent
events, where the inhuman "mazzolato" executions drew as great crowds as did an occasional "miraculous" picture, where picturesque
contadina models waited for hire on the Scala di Spagna, where the streets were with few exceptions narrow and ill-lighted,
but where living and wine were ridiculously cheap. Life was joyous and picturesque. Upon one occasion he accompanied an
artist friend who wanted to make a sketch of one of those artificial caverns which have been hollowed out of the soft tufa
rock of the Campagna to procure the well known volcanic ash used in building. They tied one end of a string to the entrance
to guide them out of the labyrinth, but the string breaking they passed a very anxious space of time wandering by candle
light among the interminable pillars of rock before they hit upon the exit. He became a member of the British Academy in
Rome. He made the acquaintance of many foreign artists of various nationalities, and besides Italian. He studied German
and French sufficiently to be able to read the works of Moliere and Schiller in their proper languages.

He was in Rome during the historical breaching of the ancient wall
of Aurelian by the troops of King Victor Emmanuel. His curiosity on
that occasion carried him within the danger zone, so that he was
witness of a shell rolling among a group of Papal artillery-men,
exploding, killing and wounding six of them. A piece of the same
shell struck an iron pipe just above where he had thrown himself on
the ground.

Immediately upon leaving St. Luke's he executed a half-life sized
statue of "Cain," which manifested a healthy feeling of naturalism,
and called forth commendation from Mr. Ruskin in a private letter. It
was well placed in the Royal Academy, and was favourably noticed by
the critics. Upon exhibiting this in Manchester he was given numerous
orders for Manchester magnates, which, perhaps, was not an unmixed
blessing, as it may have interfered with purely creative work. He was
elected a member of the Manchester Literary Society, and of the
Manchester Academy of Art. He brought "Cain" to the Isle of Mann, and
exhibited it in Douglas. This was followed next year by his "Cupid
and Psyche," and during this visit to the Island he executed some
exquisite small busts of his father, mother, and his brother Charles.
He also modelled busts of Mr. Speaker Goldie-Taubman and his eldest
son, and then, or afterwards, Mr. Robert Collister of Ramsey.

Space forbids following his career closely. For many years after
he produced "Cain" he exhibited at the Academy, and there are
numerous single figures, groups, and busts in England, the Isle of
Mann, and elsewhere, to witness to his powers and industry although
always frail in physique he was a hard and cheerful worker, and was
never so happy as when busy in his studio in Rome. For several years
this was in the Piazza Trinita de Monti, and we lived close by in the
Via Gregoriana. Afterwards he had his studio on the ground floor of
the house he built himself, in the new part of the city  No. 2
Via Montebello, overlooking the British Embassy garden. In the
earlier period we used to have frequent excursions together, nor
shall I forget how we went riding among the Alban woods and
vineyards, mounted on our hired nags, whether horses or mules,
tilting at each other with long canes to the amusement of the
countryfolk. Or, on foot, generally with congenial friends, we have
climbed Mount Soracte, the Alban Hill, and Monte Gennaro, the highest
peak of the Sabines, crossed Lake Bracciano in a ramshackle canoe and
were nearly sunk in a storm, and have tramped through the innermost
recesses of the Sabine and Volscian mountains, visiting their
classical sites or prehistoric cities, buying ancient coins or
majolica pottery, not forgetting, as an accompaniment to rather
coarse rustic fare, the famous vintages of that beautiful country. He
was a genial companion.

About his thirty-second year he belonged to the Roman Section of
the Italian Alpine Club, and with its members he climbed the highest
peaks of the Apennines. In one descent while negotiating a knife-like
ridge between two peaks, the party being roped together, and he the
last man, several of the leading men slipped on the steep and hard
snow slope, and had it not been for his cool and timely dispositions
the whole party would probably have perished. In spite of his frail
build he was an indefatigable walker.

He extended generous hospitality to his friends and relations' and
when John Nicholson visited Rome he was the guest of his fellow
townsman.* His father was also his guest in Rome on two separate
occasions, which visits probably added several years to the old
gentleman's life. Among those who called on him in Rome were Deemster
Sherwood and Mr. A. W. Moore.

His favourite authors were Dickens and Moliere, and latterly Tom
Brown the poet. He did not care much for the remains of antiquity
outside art. During his last years he acted as Hon. Treasurer to the
Committee of the British Academy in Rome.

Among his works may be mentioned "Cain"; "Cupid and Psyche"; "Cain
and Abel," an amplification of "Cain"; "Hiawatha and Minnehaha," a
fine group executed for Benjamin Whitworth, Esq., Manchester; "The
Victor," now, I believe, in Peel Park collection, Manchester; '
Immortal Youth," a large fountain twenty feet high, of graceful
design surmounted by a group of three life-sized youths. This last
was greatly admired by many of our leading artists, and after the
Royal Academy was exhibited at Rome in the National Exhibition, and
was awarded the medal. ' Love's Chalice,' another fountain,
remarkable for the beautiful figure of the faun, now in the
Camberwell Gallery; 'Santa Francesca Romana," a statue in coloured
marbles, a return to ancient and mediaeval usage, and a Christ
Bound," both in the lesuit Church, Farm Street, London; a colossal
bust of Cromwell; a colossal bust of Garibaldi, to model which he
visited the hero at his home in the Island of Caprera,  both
these in Peel Park collection; "St Winifred" for Holywell, which had
to be carried into the Vatican to be inspected by the Pope, on which
occasion he had a long talk with Pope Leo XIII; a colossal public
statue of Queen Victoria, at Southend-on-Sea; one of Hugh Mason,
etc., Ashton-under-Lyne; another of Joseph Verdun,Northwich; busts of
many public men as Lord Russell; the Nizam of Hyderabad, and
Vicar-ul-Mulk, Hyderabad; Abel Heywood, Mayor of Manchester,
Manchester Town Hall; a bust in plaster of Mr. Hall Caine, a splendid
likeness; various half-life size statues as "Virginia"; Ganymede";
Mona"; St.John"; Daniel"; ideal busts and bas-reliefs, Among his
notable busts of ladies were those of Mrs. Matheson in marble, and
Mrs Boddington in bronze. This list, while not pretending to include
all his works, shows that he possessed considerable versatility.

During his career he was necessarily brought into contact with
many of the principal English artists of his time, and he is referred
to by Mr. Crofts, the eminent painter, who was his guest at Carrara,
in his book of reminiscences lately published. Also in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 10th edition, among the leading English
artists.

About his thirty-first year he married Annie L. Robinson, a very
talented artist, one of whose pictures has lately had the
distinguished honour of being purchased by the French Government for
the Luxembourg Gallery, Paris. With her he lived in the greatest
harmony and affection until his death. He left no children.

He loved Rome and knew it well. It was a pleasure to walk with him
through the Eternal City, as he was versed in much lore concerning
its churches, palaces, and so forth. In advanced years he told me
that he loved to perambulate its silent streets at night, and
doubtless there was much in his character which gave him a melancholy
pleasure in thus wandering among the scenes of his early manhood.
Naturally, as he lived so much in Rome it became a second home to
him. He had many Italian friends, and hence, upon invitation, he took
part in an educational movement among the Italian troops, and this
resulted in his presentation to H.M. Queen Margarita, the Patroness
of the movement.

His love for the Isle of Mann was however still greater, and he delighted in
books concerning it. Small wonder then that he was a constant reader of Brown's
poems. He generally visited it upon his returns from Italy, and spent a few
weeks near the sea, generally at Port St. Mary. Not long before he died he executed
a bust of Tom Brown. And this brings the reflection that if we take the
three men, Brown, Nicholson, and Swynnerton, as Manx exponents of their several
arts, it is curious that they all lived and died about the same time.

He early rebelled against the classicality of Roman tradition, and
many of his works show a strong leaning to naturalism. This was
perhaps over emphasised in his "First Steps," a group of a woman and
a child in ordinary garments. But such efforts were in the nature of
a forlorn hope against convention, which hide-bound tradition viewed
askance. The traditionists of every age run in their rut, until there
comes a Rodin who, as with his "Burghers of Calais," liberates men
from mental servitude. His works show that he was gifted with
poetical imagination of a high order, joined to originality of idea,
perfect drawing, and a correct knowledge of human anatomy. As a bust
modeller, not the least difficult branch of his art, he had few
superiors. His "Immortal Youth" may be regarded as his masterpiece,
and one cannot but regret that it cannot be set up in his native
town, as it would honour it and him, for it may fairly claim to be
pronounced one of the greatest efforts of art that any Manxman has
produced. In it he successfully coped with that most difficult of all
branches of art, the representation of ideal human beauty adapted to
utilitarian purposes unassisted by the charm of colour. It is well to
remember that the study of the human figure teas always been regarded
as the highest aim in art.

He had been affected with an aneurism for many years and that it should have culminated just when he might have looked
forward to a pleasant rest from his labours and manifold worries, is a matter of infinite regret. He was taken ill in Rome.
Towards the end he went to a specialist in London, whence he wrote to me two weeks before he died expressing a wish that
I were with him to go for some fishing to the Port." There, indeed, he went soon afterwards, a dying man, accompanied by
his wife, and after a slight rally he died on the 10th August, 1910, attended in his last moments by his wife and by his
niece, Miss Katherine Blakeley. He was buried in Kirk Maughold Churchyard, where some years before he had expressed a wish
to lie.

*To this visit I owe it that I possess one of the two paintings
done by John Nicholson in Italy'  a memory sketch painted for
me, of the launching of the Douglas life-boat on the occasion when it
overturned and six of its crew were drowned  F.S.